Notes From the Field: Skilled Marketers Share Strategies for Success

Beth Perry

One reason Bronto City Tour has been so popular is the opportunity to hear some of today’s top commerce marketers share their successful tricks of the trade and advice for delivering effective marketing strategies that reach today’s consumers. And City Tour London this year was no exception!

Five commerce marketing experts took to the floor to share their experiences, and while it was wonderful to hear about their shared passion for truly understanding their customers, it was even more interesting to hear more about each one’s individual expertise.

Josh Ashby, commercial director at UK Flooring Direct, opened by explaining how their business remains focused on being customer-centric. The goal: Make the whole shopping experience as easy as possible for the consumer, from advising them on the type of flooring they need to offering exemplary product delivery. The nature of the business requires multiple interactions, both digital and personal, along the path to purchase. With so many touch points and opportunities for data collection, the company recognized the need for an effective data management system to gain the all-important single view of the customer.

Ashby outlined the two key factors to consider from a data perspective, which we could all empathize with: timeliness and accessibility. How quickly does the data become available so it’s still relevant, and how accessible is it for making decisions that build a strategic marketing campaign? Thanks to a successful integration between NetSuite and Bronto, UK Flooring Direct has been able to successfully leverage customer data. For example, they implemented a reliable omnichannel strategy to tackle cart abandonment. Sales agents are alerted instantly to an abandoned cart, giving them the opportunity to contact the customer over the phone, answer any questions and ultimately, try to convert the sale. By removing the siloed approach to its commerce marketing, UK Flooring Direct has seen email revenue grow by 80% year-over-year.

For discount retailer Poundland, who launched their first ecommerce offering just 14 months ago, the challenge has been understanding how to grow their transactional database. Whilst the average spend in-store is $6, Paul McDermott , head of ecommerce, told City Tour attendees that this goes up to $50 online, offering significant revenue potential for the brand.

But the brand needed a better view of their customers to engage them with relevant messages and offers. The in-store environment only offers a short timeframe to engage with customers, so they had to get creative in linking online and offline channels.

For Poundland, the solution has come in the form of a till receipt – four or five inches of paper that every in-store customer receives upon making a purchase, offering an extremely cost-effective route to market. Poundland ran a text-to-join campaign on the receipts for a week, incenting customers to sign up. With a staggering 2,500 sign-ups in the first week, it’s safe to say this was a more effective strategy than getting customers to complete and return a form. Not only has the retailer grown its database and better identified its customers, but it is fast becoming a cross-channel retail success story.

Next we heard from Fredrik Östling, commerce manager at Swedish-based online fashion retailer Ivyrevel, on how the use of our Pop-Up Manager has enabled the brand to increase its database and drive revenue over the last year. Like all startups, growing a customer database has been crucial for Ivyrevel. And while Östling was quick to admit that pop-ups are sometimes considered annoying, the campaign has delivered “insane results for the brand.” Since the campaign was launched, 45% of all sign-ups have been driven by the pop-ups. Most surprising, only 48% of all customers who shopped after receiving the pop-up incentive actually did so using the voucher. What a great reminder that tracking the metrics, including redemption rates for your incentives, is critical to understanding customer behavior and making the right adjustments to remain effective.

Laura Santos, director of sales and marketing at Envelopes.com, reiterated just how important customer courtship is in achieving a committed relationship. First impressions count, so getting the right welcome series in place is vital. Use it as an opportunity to put your best foot forward, and be clear about the three most important things you want to tell the customer about your brand.

Santos focused on one of the most important lessons for marketers: “Don’t get comfortable!” Staying attuned to customers’ needs, continually testing and adapting, and never being afraid to take a step back will all help you build a better relationship with your customers. For example, don’t look at site abandonment as a failure but rather an opportunity to review the customer’s path to purchase and better understand what level of the purchase funnel your abandonment strategy needs to target.

For Santos, the key takeaway for all commerce marketers is clear: “Test, test, and then test some more.” Customers evolve, and strategies must evolve, too, if brands want to keep growing the customer relationship. What should you test? Everything – subject lines, list segmentation, email timing and more. Test all aspects of your marketing strategy to keep improving your results.

Hanna Dalsman, digital director at fashion brand Dr. Denim, shared similar sentiments, echoing the importance of treating your customers the right way. For Dr. Denim, the post-purchase series they implemented fits the brand personality. Instead of pushing additional products, Dr. Denim uses the series as an opportunity to engage the customer in a conversation about their new jeans. View this as the start of the relationship to be taken steadily, rather than forcing pushy sales messages onto your prospects. As Dalsman summed up, “There is no excuse for failing to bring customers back, and it’s not difficult to do with the right strategy and tools.”

As always, we appreciate our customers talking about how they engage with their own customers and sharing their successes and lessons learned. As our City Tour commerce marketing experts illustrated, a commitment to truly understanding your customers can lead to great success. Are you ready to join them?